From Survivors To Entrepreneurs

One of the scarves available at the Corazon Boutique.

Wars can be rather ugly things, especially for those who live in areas where the fighting happened. Civilians, women and children, families, become displaced, relocated, in a bid to get out of the way of the fighting. These are the innocents, the ones who didn't deserve to be in war's pathway.

Most of the world recently has been focused on the refugees from the wars in the Middle East. But a war that didn't receive all that coverage happened in Guatemala. It was a lengthy civil war and among those displaced were twenty women and their children.



A woman with some twenty years of experience in community development, an American who lives in Seattle, Debbie DuPey, came into their lives. The women, who had been displaced, were weavers and they had talent. They were also hungry for learning and they wanted their children to be educated; the younger ones to be prepared to start school, the older ones to experience learning enrichment, with opportunities for creative expression.

So, programming started with workshops for the women, helping to develop their skills in weaving, and providing other courses in self-esteem, child-rearing, and healthy family relationships. The objective was to empower the women. Over the course of a few years, the women's skills led to the development of a work cooperative, producing scarves, CORAZON SCARVES. This enterprise now produces more textile products than just scarves and has a storefront on the internet. In addition, customers can even book a tour, called Corazon Journey, that becomes a way for visitors to help locally during the trip and learn more about the women and their families.

According to Bernarda, one of the women survivors, "We came here because of the war. I had to hide in the woods with my 2-week-old daughter. I lost everything." To go from a woman with nothing to a businesswoman with a skilled enterprise is definitely empowering. Debbie shares why she became involved in this empowerment enterprise, "The indigenous people of Guatemala suffer greater poverty, disease, and illiteracy than their Latino counterparts. They are scarcely represented in professions requiring advanced degrees. A long history of oppression and violence has kept them in near-slave conditions. Most of the women of Corazon de Mujer were illiterate until their forties, when they chose to return to classes to learn to read and write. This project makes a difference...by raising self-esteem and academic competencies."

New books received for the Learning Center Library.

As for the children, the CORAZON LEARNING CENTER is a reality. They receive the learning enrichment and opportunities for creative expression, while the younger ones are prepared to start school, just as the women had wanted.

Children play a game at Corazon Learning Center.

Thanks to this article from Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/debbie-dupey-corazon-de-mujer-center/; this article from Que Pasa Magazine: http://www.quepasa.gt/corazon-scarves-woven-symbols-of-womanhood/; and the above links.

Click here to view more details

Click here: TUBE EQUALIZER - TARGETED TRAFFIC FROM YOUTUBE